1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to methods by which a team of consultants, comprised of doctors, coaches, therapists, nutritionists, trainers, physiologists, psychologists and athletes, assist individuals engaged in athletic endeavors and physical activity in their attempt to maximize performance in these activities. More particularly, the methods use a global computerized network to create a xe2x80x9cone stop shopxe2x80x9d bringing together all of the aforementioned consultants to effectuate physical performance enhancement.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Coaches train athletes in the specific skills for participation in a specific physical activity. In some, but not all cases, the coach may enlist the assistance of others in this endeavor. For example, the coach may refer the athlete to a specific subcategory of coach known as a strength-and-conditioning coach or to another subcategory of coach known as an exercise coach. This referral is designed to attempt to enhance the athlete""s basic physical skills. The higher the level of competition, the more likely an athletic participant will have access to other specialists including, but not limited to nutritionists, exercise physiologists, and psychologists. These professionals also aim to refine and optimize athletic performance through a myriad of non-physical means within their specific area of expertise.
Without doubt, the most important asset for one participating in athletic endeavors or physical conditioning is the human body and its component parts. When injured, the injured party consults a medical doctor. The doctor may deploy any number of strategies designed to assist the injured party in obtaining the fastest and most effective recuperation as possible. Undoubtedly, any course of treatment will involve some type of diagnostic testing to assess the injury. Following injury assessment, the road to recovery may involve (among other things) prescription of some type of medication or, with severe situations, surgery to treat the injury. The goal in each instance is to return the injured patient to the pre-injury performance level as quickly as possible. As part of this process, the doctor may also refer the recovering patient to a physical therapist for rehabilitative instruction including, but not limited to, assistance with the performance of stretches and re-establishment of aerobic or anaerobic conditioning. A nutritionist may also be consulted to ensure a proper diet for recovery and return to pre-injury performance levels.
In recent years, web-based enterprises have attempted to make portions of a team approach to athletic performance available to the common athlete. For example, eFIT The Online Health and Fitness Network (www.efit.com) provides information on subjects relating to weight loss, nutrition, exercise and fitness. eFIT focuses on providing information regarding a narrow range of physical activities, such as cardio-fitness, strength training, cycling, running, hiking and walking, rather than taking a broad approach to physical activity. eFIT offers no expert interactive guidance in areas such as injury diagnosis, injury recovery and injury avoidance.
Healtheon/NWebMD (www.webmd.com) is an Internet healthcare company connecting consumers, doctors and the healthcare community. By linking consumers to a directory of physicians, live chat events and comprehensive healthcare information, Healtheon/WebMD offers advice on subjects relating to nutrition, injury diagnosis and injury recovery. Healtheon/NVebMD provides no interactive guidance on sports specific medicine or training.
MVP.com (www.mvp.com) is a source for athletic equipment and apparel on the Internet. MVP.com assists its users in the selection and purchase of athletic equipment, in the proper care for that equipment, interactive instructional guides on training and performance. The information on the MVP.com website is organized in a sport specific manner. MVP.com offers no interactive guidance on sports medicine, nutrition, injury diagnosis and injury recovery.
To insure optimum performance of the athlete, the activities of the various types of coaches (i.e. the strength-and-conditioning coach and the exercise coach), the nutritionist, the exercise physiologist, the psychologist, the doctor and the physical therapist, must be coordinated. However, even a coordinated, team approach to athletic performance enhancement is found, if at all, only at the highest levels of competition, such as in some professional sports, in some major college sports and among some Olympic athletes and then not often but still found interactively. Assembling such a team for the enhancement of athletic endeavors and physical activity is prohibitively expensive at any other level of competition and for the everyday individual engaged in athletic endeavors or physical activity.
The present invention relates to methods by which a team of consultants assists participants in athletic endeavors and physical activity attempting to enhance athletic performance. The team of consultants is comprised of doctors, coaches, therapists, nutritionists, trainers, physiologists, psychologists, and athletes. The assistance includes advice and counsel with regard to strength and conditioning exercises, nutrition, medicine and injury rehabilitation. The assistance is organized in an information database tailored to an individual athlete competing in a specific sport. The assistance is provided in an interactive networked computer environment. The information database is established on a first computer. An interface allows remote connection of the team to the first computer and the database. The members of the team inputs and updates the information database. The interface also allows remote access to the database by one or more users. The users may query the database for specific topics and may simultaneously with to one or more members of the team. The interface also enables members of the team to interactively communicate with one another with the information provided to the user, thus creating the coordinated effort toward physical activity enhancement.